Slip of the forked tongue: Syrian nuclear admission

Syrian officials have admitted that the site attacked by the Israeli air force last month was a nuclear facility, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, three Israeli diplomats present at a recent United Nations Disarmament Commission meeting overheard the Syrian representative clearly say that Israel’s attack targeted a nuclear facility. The Israeli delegation to the talks, headed by Miriam Ziv, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director general for strategic affairs, accused Syria of smuggling mass amounts of weapons into Lebanon in violation of the UN Security Council’s resolution. In response a Syrian representative said Israel was the aggressor and mentioned its attack on a “nuclear facility.” [...]

Meanwhile, Rice conducted an interview with Israel Channel 1 (Video in English with Ayala Hasson) and awkwardly fielded questions regarding Syria. Questioned about a conflict at senior levels of the Bush admin regarding Syrian strategy Rice referred to the incidents reported by the NY Times in some detail, mentioning herself, Cheney & Sec Def Robert Gates and then shot off a ‘don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper bit’, though she clearly has been reading a few herself lately..

Update: Big surprise, Syrian state run media denies it all..

Haaretz
Syria denied Wednesday its representatives to the United Nations had confirmed that an Israel Air Force strike last month targeted nuclear facility, and added that such facilities do not exist in Syria, state-run news agency said. The Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, quoting a foreign ministry source, said that Syria had made it clear in the past that there are no such facilities in Syria. [...]